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Just a quick take on the AGM yesterday.
The AGM took place in a restaurant in Randburg, not really a conferencing setting, not well attended I would say. The place was noisy, restaurant staff moving and chatting, trucks passing by, one could hardly hear the topics discussed & answers given (1st half). Quite poor from my perspective. We could have even used one of their school halls to be honest, with a microphone and a speaker, they are a start up after all. No need to go fancy, but the quality could have been better.
Questions asked for for me were not answered in a satisfactory and comforting manner. Issues of liquidity for example, as stated in the reports that the “going concern” topic is an issue.....Management + Directors could not answer how long the company will be able to go on with the cash they have in the bank or that they generate. In my books they are in over their heads.
Concerning to me me was also the topic of the suspension, Management and directors do not know when the suspension will be lifted. When I called last week, I was told this any time this week, but did not happen.
Why concerning ? Well the CEO indicated they are not able to continue with the schools expansions due to the fact that they cannot raise capital as a result of this suspension. Then they shift the blame....it’s up to the JSE when the suspension will be lifted. They further more placed the blame on the previous Finance person that they appointed for the delay in results, trying to give comfort with the fact that the person is no longer with the company. In my books they didn’t take accountability at all.
In in terms of regulatory understanding....zero....willingness to get up to speed, I did not see it. Shareholders in this company are taken for ****. Rookie mistakes point me to this conclusion.
PEM is a great idea, with potential but being run by incapable management. I will salvage what I can if trading resumes....much more better opportunities in the market. One cent is coming for this one. Too many wrongs and they don’t know how to fix it and not willing to get help to do so.

Good day all,
Our questions
1) If we need R50k a month to survive when we retire how much do we need to have invested in total ?
2) If the South African government implemented prescribed investments would it affect any investments which are not RA's ?
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Have a great weekend all.
Sideways

While there is certainly merit to the argument that on average, in the long run, passive investments perform at least as well as, if not better, than actively managed investments, the funds in which Momentum has invested your money (ie. Allan Gray, Coronation, Investec etc) have had phenomenal performance since their inception, and they are certainly not just your average actively managed funds. These funds are among the best South Africa has to offer with returns beating the benchmark year after year.
Also remember that offshore has its (important) cons as well as its merits. While offshore investments may serve as a Rand hedge, they simply cannot keep up with our inflation. Even with the annual average 4% drop in the Rand, the 2-4% growth typical of global growth, even when combined with Rand depreciation, does not usually beat South Africa's 6.5 - 8% inflation. South African markets do tend to perform a few percent higher than inflation though, and I'm pretty sure that if you look at your Momentum fund returns, you're probably close to 11% annual return over the past 10 years after the 2% costs have been deducted, even though the market has been flat.
In every/any chosen period longer than 10 years (10-years, 15 years etc) South African investments have beaten the offshore average, even when compounded with Rand depreciation. I'm wary of moving too much money offshore. Consensus at the moment is that 30-40% of your money offshore presents the optimal risk to reward ratio.
Also bear in mind that 30 -35% of your Momentum fund is already invested offshore.
If it were me, I'd keep the bulk of the money with Momentum. Especially since you're 55, the actively managed approach, which switches between bonds, stocks and cash as the market fluctuates, decreases your risk significantly. The good thing about managed funds is that they limit the downside, while they may underperform passive investments slightly during strong bull markets. At 55, preserving your wealth is definitely more important than high-risk growth.
So yes, I personally do believe that moving your Momentum investment to passive investments would be a mistake in your case. If it were me, I'd keep the R5.5M right where it is! (The extra R2M is only a quarter of your portfolio so it seems a reasonable amount to put in the higher risk passive funds as you have done.)

Hi all. I had joined here in March of 2017, but don't think I ever did a proper introduction.
I live in KZN on the North Coast for now. I started realizing the need to get into investing, diversifying and saving some capital instead of living pay check to pay check which dwindles before your eyes in our current economy. I started with Easy Equities in 2017, investing in some companies with a percentage of my salary I could afford to loose. Then trading and charts got the better of me and I started learning the ropes via online resources and trial and error, I feel fairly confident with technical analysis on charts now but do know that every day I learn something new and the markets are unpredictable to an extent, If you have some strick money managment rules in place (using consistent win/loss ratios with your stop losses and take profits) and have an edge in reading charts you can become profitable with patience.
This lead me to forex and cryptocurrencies due to there massive percent movement in a short space of time. Have been doing a lot of day trading, swing trading and have had my fair share of gains and losses (rollercoaster indeed), have gained and still gaining invaluable experience.
I am truly enjoying this field and wish for it to become my main source of income very soon. I am a "Gamer ish" and spend a lot of time at the computer so this fits my lifestyle perfectly. If I can share my experience and thoughts here with others who are looking at doing similar, that would make me happy.
Cheers and good luck out there for now. Don't fomo, patience.

My Reasons for my strategy:
Local vs global: First, my thoughts on local vs global ETFs. For the last 20 odd-years, the Rand has averaged a depreciation against the Dollar of roughly -4% per year. The S&P500 has had roughly 6.8% growth, thus giving a total return of roughly 11% (including Rand effects) by investing offshore. The JSE, on the other hand, has performed at over 15% per annum for this period. Global returns are generally lower than local returns because inflation is lower globally than in RSA. Thus, even with the dropping Rand, local returns historically still trump global returns in the long run. That's why I'm happy with a 50%/50% split in global vs local ETFs.
My ETFs - the good and the bad:
CTOP50: The JSE has never been cheaper. It's P/E is good enough even to start being attractive to foreign investors. Also, I love that 10% cap in any one company. This ETF is a must.
DIVTRX: If the bear market continues, high-dividend shares perform better. That's why I'm holding on to this one for now, but eventually (after the market starts to recover), I may sell this and buy CTOP50 with this money.
PTXTEN: Different asset class - not correlated to the JSE. Property always does well in the long tern and is at a 52-week low. A steal at this price.
STXQUA: I just love the companies in this ETF - such attractive fundamentals. I own this one simply because I believe in the companies that this ETF represents.
ASHGEQ: Diversified global. Core ETF.
GLODIV: A smart-beta ETF - its methodology may outperform the global all-share index in the long run, so a competitor for ASHGEQ.
GLPROP: Global property. I'm not too sure about this one, as global property returns are not generally as good as local ones, even with the extra 4% per annum Rand depreciation. I may sell this one eventually. For now, though, with the uncertainty in the market, this is just to have a different asset class.
STXEMG: Highest potential for growth over 25 years. Emerging markets fluctuate wildly but always outperform developed markets in the very long term.
SYG4IR: I had to have some Tech shares, but I already have too much in the USA through my other ETFs, Thus, this gives my exposure to the newest and most exciting tech in Asia. If I didn't have this I would replace it with STXNDQ, but I just don't want too much USA at the moment. The USA has had it's longest bull market in history. How long can it continue? It might, but I prefer to be diversified.
My shares - why I own/will continue to buy these ones:
CML: Dividends of almost 10% per annum - that's better than cash even before growth! My favourite stock pick for 2019 at the moment.
CPI: Continues to remain strong, even in the terrible 2018.
DCP: Tough choice between either Dis-Chem or Clicks. But I didn't want two in the same sector, since the two are very well correlated. I just feel that since Dis-Chem is new and Clicks is already well established, Dis-Chem has more potential for growth between the two.
DSY: Historically rock solid, and with Discovery Bank on the way, it looks even more attractive than its already dazzling history.
L4L: Still holding on to the belief that this one will take off one day. A bit of a risk, but it may pay off.
MRP: Had a bit of a dip, but recovering nicely. Cheap clothes of reasonable quality must do well in the long run. And with its competitors in the clothing department losing the plot (I'm thinking Woolworth and Edgars here), it just has to go up.
SHP: The poor performance of this stock has been due to negative inflation of the food products on its shelf (the average prices of its shelf actually dropped in 2018), thus dropping its turnover (and profit). As food inflation is expected to rise in 2019 (also with drought predicted again) this should reverse the losses and lead to considerable gains. This share is also very cheap at the moment.

Hi Taurus and welcome to the forum.
Disclaimer - I'm not a financial adviser - just a forum member with a few years of self-study and experience who invests and trades on the JSE, and the following discussion is based merely on my own observations and opinions.
Yes, you have too many ETFs. It's not so much the number though, but rather that you have some that track exactly the same index/companies which duplicates your costs and skews your perceived exposure.
A few observations:
1. A massive chunk of your investment is indirectly invested in a single company - namely Naspers. The Satrix Indi, Top 40 and RAFI are basically all investing in exactly the same few companies, but in differing percentages. The Indi is largely Naspers, which has historically performed exceptionally well, but now that the fundamentals of TenCent (of which Naspers owns 30%) has changed, the future may not be anywhere as near as attractive. I'd definitely be nervous with such a big percentage of my portfolio in Indi (plus, it's never a good idea to have such a big chunk of a portfolio in a single sector). If it were me, I'd combine all three of these into Satrix 40.
2. The Satrix S&P 500 and the Sygnia Itrix MSCI World are pretty much the same thing with a tiny bit of extra emerging market exposure in the MSCI world ETF. This is duplication and skews your exposure.
3. If you're looking for diversification in property, I'd go at least 20% property (10% local property (PTXTEN) and 10% offshore property (GLPROP)), since it's a different asset class and doesn't necessarily correlate to stocks. If the stock market crashes, these may very well shine. In fact, in the long term, property has always done well.
4. Ashburton Government bonds - a different asset class which is good for diversification but in the long run doesn't do as well as equities. Having these in your portfolio depends on your risk tolerance - these are much safer than stocks, but underperform in the long run (longer than 10 years). If you want diversification with bonds, go at least 10% bonds. Otherwise, it just doesn't add any value to your portfolio, because at 2% of your portfolio, the purpose of this asset class (risk reduction) simply isn't significant and you may as well put it in something higher risk with better potential returns.
5. Sygnia Japan and Eurostoxx: These are already covered in MSCI world. The combination of S&P500, Japan and Euro is pretty much what MSCI world has done for you anyway - you're just duplicating the Sygnia MSCI world ETF and splitting it up into it's components. All you get by having all of these is more costs and a skewed sense of diversification. Why not just combine all of these into MSCI world?
6. Nasdaq and Sygnia 4IR: I personally like tech shares and I think these will do well. Personally, I'd buy more than your 2% in tech - maybe 5-10%.
7. Satrix Quality: I love this ETF. The companies in this portfolio are fantastic with amazing fundamentals. The dividends from this ETF are also extremely attractive.
8. Satrix Fini: This sector is already very well represented in the top 40. Just more exposure to the same thing.
NB: Your current exposure to the local Top 40 is 68% of your portfolio (26.14% Indi + 20.32% T40 + 12.03% RAFI + 9.07% Fini, which all have the same companies, especially Naspers, which is more than 20% in your case) This is the whole point - you think you're diversifying, but you're not!
If it were up to me, and you asked me to re-balance your portfolio using your selection of ETFs, I'd sell INDI, RAFI, FINI, S&P500, Japan, EuroStox, and combine a whole lot of your ETFs to buy:
60 % Core Shares (Local and Global):
STX40 - 20%
STXQUA - 10%
SYGWD - 20%
GLODIV - 10%
20% Property (Local and Global):
PTXTEN - 10%
GLPROP - 10%
10% High-risk but high potential tech shares:
STXNDQ and/or SYG4IR - 10%
10% bonds (If your proposed investment period is less than 10 years)
or better still, buy 10% in emerging markets (STXEMG) instead.
ASHWGB - 10%
(Alternatively, rather than bonds, I'd use this 10% to buy emerging markets in the form of STXEMG, which has exposure to China, Brics countries etc. - lots and lots of long term potential).

Great article from Bruce Whitefield, I bet your banker did not explain it to you in such clear terms:
Banks love it when you don’t settle your credit card balance in full. If you owe your bank R10,000 and pay R9,999, then they are entitled – as per the small print – to charge you interest on the full R10,000 rather than the R1 that you failed to pay. It may seem iniquitous, but those are the rules.
They even have a special name for people who pay the minimum amount every month on their credit card statements. They are called “revolvers”, and they are charged significant amounts of interest for extending the agreed borrowing period. That is as opposed to “transactors”, who pay the full outstanding balance monthly, having taken advantage of the reward scheme and the interest-free period made available to them.
Banks are not great fans of transactors as they make lower fees and earn less interest from them. Still, the financial institution does make a percentage every time their customer uses the card, so don’t feel too bad for the bank.
Source: https://www.businessinsider.co.za/beware-these-fiendish-credit-card-tricks-2018-12

Today marks 422 days approximately until the next bitcoin 'halving', where the amount of bitcoin that is able to be mined every day is cut in half forever. The approximate date will be 24 May 2020.
After previous bitcoin booms and busts in the hype cycle the uptick in the price has started to show improvement around 500 days before the halving. We are past that point, so I am hoping that there will start to be a slow steady increase in price again like there has been before. Lets see if history will repeat itself once again.
The Bitcoin block mining reward halves every 210,000 blocks, and this time the coin reward will decrease from 12.5 to 6.25 coins approximately every 10min in May 2020. Usually there are guys who anticipate the increased demand and the price increase that responds to the demand, who buy in advance so that they can sell when the real frenzy starts at a great profit.
I would bet that if things go like they have gone in the past, people will buy up bitcoin leading up to the halving, and might even dump a bunch before the actual date, before other guys get a chance to do the same thing.
Lets see how it all plays out...The price of bitcoin on 28 March 2019: $4098 (according to coin market cap)
EDIT:

Any business with a concern about efficient and costs effective telecommunications should investigate porting over to a VOIP solution.
If you have a reliable internet connection such as ADSL/VDSL, 3G/4G or Fibre, you can get a phone service delivered through your internet connection at a fraction of the cost compared to using a traditional Telkom landline.
The most important takeaway from this article is that a VoIP system reduce costs, dramatically.
Why will a VoIP system reduce my costs of my Telkom bill?
A VoIP service provider does not require its own separate infrastructure like the PSTN of Telkom. Voice calls are simply transmitted over the same networks that power the Internet. This means that the ISP does not have to invest significant capital in laying phone lines to each and every house and business.
VoIP is essentially piggybacking on the existing broadband network throughout South Africa. So, voice is treated exactly the same as normal data and media such as text and images on the Internet (like a Whatsapp). Just like sending email and pictures is practically free, voice calls also become extremely cheap.
Can I move my telephone number if we change offices?
Anyone who has moved a landline from one home to another knows the pain of dealing with Telkom. With VoIP, the phone number is no longer associated with a single device, residence or physical line, instead the VoIP phone number is associated with you and your account. This enables you to take the number with anywhere you go, and you can even use it to link your cell phone to your business or office – it’s a virtual number.
Who is the cheapest VoIP provider in South Africa for my business? Skype has three packages
For R57 per month you get 100 minutes to any South African mobile or landline number (effectively R 0.57 per minute)
For R99 per month you get 400 minutes to any South African mobile or landline number (effectively R 0.24 per minute.)
Then for R285 per month you get unlimited calls to any network and landline.
Vox Telecom
Costs between R234 and R762 per month and calls are charged at R0.46 per minute. (The monthly payment includes money for the calls.)
FreshPHONE
Zero sign up costs, Zero monthly costs, Zero cancellation costs. The call rates for FreshPHONE is R0.39 per min to Telkom local and national numbers and R0.69 per min to all cellular networks.
MWEB
Mweb have two VOIP packages a Starter package with 100 minutes at R59 per month, and a Lite package with 250 minutes at R99 per month. (59c per minute and 39.6c per minute respectively)
Assuming you want a more business specific setup (multiple staff members or a call center) then a PBX system will be required.
The cheapest hosted PBX solutions in South Africa
IS (Internet Solutions) Ignite have a hosted PBX solution for R111 per extension (month to month) or R90 per extension (24 month contract) this gives you Ring groups, Voicemail to email, Call waiting (press 1 for sales) the full monty) and then you have to pay the per minute rates for calls you make which is R0.30 to Telkom landline calls and R0.74 to mobile numbers.
Euphoria Telecom is R65 – R125 per user(extension) per month depending on features. Then their call rates are R0.34 per min to Telkom landlines and R0.79 per min to all South African mobile networks.
Use VoIP for your startup business
Launching your own business is not an easy task. Entrepreneurs soon find that their landline is not enough to handle the needs of the business, no matter how small. This is where VoIP comes in handy. VoIP service can provide much-needed features like auto attendant, group voicemail, multi device ring, automatic call routing etc. which normally requires an expensive building specific business line(s) setup with golden numbers and special hunting group landlines.

I decided to give TymeBank (TymeDigital) a try today. I am very excited for Michael Jordaan's BankZero, but TymeBank beat them to the punch and launch the first fully digital branchless bank. There were some initial hiccups with their website not working, but overall the experience was incredibly smooth.
To open a TymeBank bank account simply sign up online through their website (Click here to open a TymeBank account). This process is incredibly simplified through the use of eFica they are able to FICA you without any documents all you need is your ID number (just the number, you type it into the website) and a cell phone (for OTPs and confirmations) then you set a pin and you are done, you now have a fully fledged bank account.
There is a catch... In order to activate and get a debit card (visa debit card), you need to go into a Pick n Pay to the TymeBank kiosk. Take your cell phone with because when you log into the Kiosk it will send an OTP to your phone. All you need to do at the kiosk is scan your thumb fingerprints then your account will be fully verified and the machine will print your debit card.
This entire process took me less than 10 minutes, registering online took 3 minutes and printing my card at the Kiosk took 4 minutes.
After this, I downloaded the TymeBank app from the google play store and its impressive, very neat layout and functional. In fact, I like their app better than Capitec (and I have been using Capitec since 2008). Their app still needs some work, I think they are using some AWS instance not locally so the lag time on the app is noticeable (latency from whatever region they use), but its nothing major.
Why did I get a TymeBank bank account?
There are zero monthly fees, so I figured if it does not cost me anything to open the account and it does not cost me anything to have the account then why not. Something to note, SMS on TymeBank are free too, other banks should take not, especially Capitec, I know they make a killing on SMSes.
The other drawcard for me was the integration with Pick n Pay (although their staff is completely clueless about how Tyme works, I went to two Pick n Pays and neither one's staff had a clue what to do when you want to add funds). Anyway, the reason I like it is that I shop mostly at Pick 'n Pay and with a TymeBank account, you can get double the smart shopper points if you use the card as your payment method and using it to swipe for the smart shopper instead of the blue pick 'n pay card.
The other reason I got the account is for the interest. You get 6% interest from day one and if you leave your money you can get up to 10% interest, so I will put a few thousand bucks into this account and just leave it to earn interest, basically extra cash I will put into TymeBank as I will earn almost double the interest I get from Capitec.
Another worthwhile note is that all TymeBank account holders get free wifi at all Pick n Pay and Boxer stores, not that I really need this, but for a bank account that does not cost me anything, it's a nice perk to know if I ever do run out of data I can pop into a Pick n Pay and be connected again.
How to get money?
It might not be obvious at first with all the digital bank and feeling like this is some special service. It's a normal bank account you get an account number so EFT some money to your TymeBank bank account. If you have cash on hand then you can go to any Pick 'n Pay. It will cost you R4 at Pick n Pay to deposit cash into your TymeBank account, which is alright.
Pro Tip: The people at Pick 'n Pay will have no idea how to do it, so to avoid boiling your blood tell them this is a normal online deposit (they should understand what that means).
Here is the card I got:
This is a fully fledged debit card (visa), you can do online payments everything, there are no limits. The interesting bit, this card costs nothing. Capitec charged me R50 for my card.

Option 1:
Takealot for around R1680
Option 2:
From their site for R976 + customs/import (https://shop.ledger.com/products/ledger-nano-s)
Free shipping from DHL (3 business days)
Question:
Does anyone know what the import costs will be payable on this?
Read around that in SA it could be around 15% VAT and 10% Duty = +25% (total costs R1220)
Are there other costs?
If R1220 is the case it's a way better deal to buy direct plus you can choose your Nano S color (I want Transparent )

I have ordered single units as replacements which came without having to pay extra duties. Buying bulk means you definitely have to pay the duties, and also the fee to the courier company to 'process' your order and delivery. I am out of stock of Ledger Nano S devices and most likely not ordering bulk again, unless I can make it worth while.
Bulk orders are not priority to them, so they sometimes take months to arrive, while the price of bitcoin changes drastically during that time period, which means your profit can disappear completely.
For the end user, its faster and cheaper to just order directly from Ledger now, especially since they added free shipping for small orders to South Africa, and you might not need to pay duties.
Bulk orders you still need to pay for shipping, so that is additional cost for resellers too. The time, expenses, and possibility of losing money means its just better to refer customers to them directly.

I own unit trusts only in the form of pension and RAs.
RA - Allan Gray Balanced Fund
Pension - 10X
Kicked Stanlib to the curb but it had more to do with getting away from my financial advisors hold on it. Didn't understand their pricing at all. Very happy with what I have currently

Just thought I would put this out there....I have a Telegram chat channel where we talk about bitcoin mostly, as well as other cryptocurrencies. If you want to ask a specific question, or would like to just chat casually about bitcoin / crypto with other people in South Africa, check it out.
The channel is informal, and it is not a trading signals channel or anything really technical. Its mainly for casual chat about crypto.
If you are on telegram, come and visit!
https://t.me/bitcoinzarchat

So regarding the new NewFunds Volatility Managed ETFs (I might be a bit late to the party):
NFEDEF - Defensive
http://etfcib.absa.co.za/products/Exchange Traded Funds/equity/VolatilityManagedDefensiveEquityETF/Pages/default.aspx
NFEMOD - Moderate Equity
http://etfcib.absa.co.za/products/Exchange Traded Funds/equity/VolatilityManagedModerateEquityETF/Pages/default.aspx
NFEHGE - High Growth Equity
http://etfcib.absa.co.za/products/Exchange Traded Funds/equity/VolatilityManagedHighGrowthEquityETF/Pages/default.aspx
Sounds "cool" but looking at the annualised returns over 5 years (NFEDEF: 5.1%, NFEMOD: 6.8%, NFEHGE: 6.2%) I have to ask myself why I wouldn't play it save with a 32 day account at 6.95% or any of the various other guaranteed return vehicles offering better returns ?

For a while now I've been asking the question: "What percentage of my TFIA ETFs should be in 'foreign' indices?"
Some people will immediately say "Put everything in foreign indices - the Rand is going to collapse or South Africa is going to be downgraded to junk" etc. And yet, the experts will typically tell you to put only 30% to 40% in foreign ETFs and the rest in local indices. So I've done a ton of study to find out why and the results surprised me - so much so that I have now changed the desired weightings of my TFIA ETF portfolio to allocate a greater percentage to local ETFs.
Here's the thing. On the one hand, the Rand depreciates on average by 4% per year against the Dollar, and has pretty much done so since the time of Adam and Eve. Therefore, by buying ETFs of foreign indices, you are 'guaranteed' a 4% gain on your investment due to the weakening Rand.
Now, on the other hand, let's look at foreign growth and interest on bonds, for example, where a 3% above-inflation is considered a good investment. Let's take England as an example. With its inflation close to 0%, a 3% return on an English investment would be considered "good." So if you had invested in an "England ETF, you would, by way of illustration, get your 0% inflation plus 3% return plus your 4% due to Rand depreciation, a total return of 7%.
However, locally, it is South Africa's high inflation that makes it ideal for investment, which at first may seem counter-intuitive. Interest-bearing investments such as bonds and preference shares may also typically return inflation plus 3% - so with our 6% inflation, that gives a total return of 9%. And the JSE does much better than just inflation plus 3%! The other countries (outside of emerging markets) just don't have our inflation and therefore don't have the growth that the JSE index does. This is also why emerging markets are expected to give higher returns than developed markets in the long term.
Secondly, putting more than say 40% in foreign indices means you are no longer diversified in the sense that if the Rands strengthens significantly, your portfolio collapses (and historically, it is highly unlikely to average a drop of more than 4% per year). On the other hand, the JSE index is not affected by the Rand in the same way, so whether the Rand drops or climbs, you're still guaranteed your above inflation growth on your local index ETFs.
So betting too much on foreign indices is, in essence, going for a higher risk, but with lower returns, the exact opposite of what we should be doing.
Of the academic studies I've read, most put the optimal risk-to-reward ratio for investing at 60% local and 40% foreign ETFs, and often support this with models. But now I finally understand why my previous 50% : 50% local : foreign split was considered high risk.

The JSE and Msci Emerging markets index are highly correlated and emerging market index outperformed local equities the last 5 years. I would change the local exposure to STXEMG only. Less risk for similar performance and no "if" the local market bounces back scenarios...

Now this is very clever...Abra is a populat crypto platform but what they have now done is to link listed assets to a type of crypto ETF that tracks major listed assets....check out the story below.
https://www.abra.com/
Since Abra runs on bitcoin, it automates all of its processes like asset holding, hedging, and user transactions with smart contracts. It supports 30 cryptocurrencies, 50 fiat currencies, and is led by crypto/finance leaders like Bill Barhydt/CEO (formerly a VP at Goldman Sachs and Technical Director at Netscape) and Daryl Puryear/CTO (formerly Director of Software at Mint.com and VPE at Motif.)
How does their new product work?
Essentially, Abra has taken its existing platform and extended it to support assets available on the NASDAQ, starting with the top 100 stocks and ETF’s.
Once users invest capital into the platform, they can choose to “invest” in one of Abra’s 100 stock/ETF offerings, which represents stock investment exposure in corporations like Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Alphabet/Google. As soon as a user adds money to the Abra app, the capital is immediately transformed to bitcoin. Then, using Abra’s crypto-collateralized contract, Abra keeps the notional value of that bitcoin investment tied to the current value of the stock. This is done with what’s called a multisig bitcoin address, where Abra and the user sign a contract to peg the amount of cryptocurrency to the value of the asset. Abra users then hold an asset that track the exact price and volatility of the given stock.
While users don’t actually hold any shares in the company they still receive dividend payments because of the means by which Abra hedges itself on the contracts — super cool. The platform can also support short selling which Abra hopes to offer in the future.
Why does this make electronic stock investing any different?
The mechanism by which Abra enters into these smart contracts means that Abra can offer this investing service legally in 155 countries. That is a first for investing in US stocks, commodities, cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies via a single service.
The SEC and CFTC have clarified that the definitions of the terms “swap” and “security-based swap” do not include forward contracts. These definitions exclude “any sale of a nonfinancial commodity or security for deferred shipment or delivery, so long as the transaction is intended to be physically settled.” These organizations later provided guidance on how this physical settlement exemption applies to Bitcoin. Abra operates under this exemption.
This means that Abra’s investing tools are much less regulated than other trading mechanisms. Since other online stock trading platforms like Robinhood, TDAmeritrade, or Charles Schwab actually invest user assets in real stocks and act as a full broker and custodian, they do have to follow rules set by the CFTC, SEC, and other securities commissions. But Abra’s model means they can expand the market of pseudo-stock-investing globally, beyond these specific geographic boundaries.
What are the greater implications?
Abra’s company ethos is democratizing finance. Their entire value is built off of being a platform where a first-time investor from the developing world can make the same returns as the hot-shot finance guys from New York. Abra’s new offering helps accomplish that by introducing pseudo-stock-trading to hundreds of new markets, making it a feasible investment mechanism for people in 155 countries globally.
Abra’s new tool might also affect the price of bitcoin. On Abra, all users become “hodlers,” crypto-speak for someone who holds onto bitcoin without regularly trading it for other currencies and assets. Past financial studies have found that hodling is one of the key driving factors behind bitcoin’s price fluctuations. Since Abra’s platform automatically converts user capital to bitcoin, all users become hodlers and thus could, at large scale, drive changes in the price of bitcoin. Depending on how many people hop onto Abra’s new platform, we might see a short- or long-term spike in the price of bitcoin as more people use bitcoin as the underlying means for their every day stock and ETF investing.

Opened mine on the 19th of November and moved my R1,500 to a Goal Save account. Started at 6% interest and then moved to 7%. Waiting for the 19th of this month and then I should be on 9%.
Not sure what happens when I deposit more money into that account (if the interest rate resets, carries on at 9% or if there is some other mechanism keeping track of deposits and their respective interest rates).
Do I trust them with my money? Well... I guess. Not planning to put to large a percentage of my money there but 9-10% interest beats almost everything out there. It even makes you wonder if it is worth buying Solar panels via FedGroup

Following below is a selection of stocks that various industry professionals have picked to be their shares to buy for 2018.
Please note this post in no ways endorses their selection of JSE stocks to invest in, but that is to be seen as an informative post for you to use in your own research. Mr Price - (JSE:MRP) Sasol - (JSE:SOL) Life Healthcare - (JSE:LHC) Shoprite Holdings - (JSE:SHP) Telkom - (JSE:TKG) Woolworths - (JSE:WHL) British American Tobacco - (JSE:BTI) Wescoal - (JSE:WSL) Aspen Pharmacare - (JSE:APN) Distell - (JSE:DGH) City Lodge - (JSE:CLH) Coronation - (JSE:CML) Sources: https://businesstech.co.za/news/finance/291986/8-long-term-stock-picks-for-2019-and-beyond/ https://www.fin24.com/Finweek/Investment/five-shares-for-2019-20181218 http://www.702.co.za/features/1/money/articles/49/buy-these-three-stocks-if-you-love-large-dividends https://www.businessinsider.co.za/this-is-the-best-place-to-invest-r10000-now-experts-say-2018-5 https://www.moneyweb.co.za/moneyweb-radio/stocks-to-watch-in-2019/
https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/markets/2018-12-13-watch-stock-picks--sasol-and-jse-all-share-index/
http://www.capetalk.co.za/podcasts/201/the-best-of-the-money-show/172007/3-best-jse-shares-to-buy-at-the-start-of-2019
I want to add the Platinum Wealth Community picks as well. So suggest stocks that you believe will do great in 2018 and I will add them below.
(I am adding L4L)
Long4Life - (JSE:l4l) Discovery - (JSE:DSY) Dis-Chem - (JSE:DCP)
KAP - (JSE:KAP)
...
Type the name of the share followed by down vote and it will be removed from the community list.

Assuming you mean this:
https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/watchlist
There is a pie diagram at the top. You can click on it (the center or outer segments) to either drill down or up one level.
Below it you'll see a couple of tabs defaulted to "Summary". If you click on the "Edit" one you can add a new lot with the date and price (in cents).

Here's an excellent series of reviews on each of the property ETFs if you want some bedtime reading:
Property ETF Series Part 1: CoreShares Proptrax SAPY
Property ETF Series Part 2: CoreShares Proptrax Ten
Property ETF Series Part 3: CoreShares S&P Global Property
Property ETF Series Part 4: Satrix Property
Property ETF Series Part 5: STANLIB SA Property ETF
Property ETF Series Part 6: Sygnia Itrix Global Property ETF
Note though that the long-term historic yields are not really applicable at the moment since the current yields have more than doubled in recent times, making property ETFs extremely attractive at the moment.

Global property returns are always significantly less than local property returns (see table below). Since property ETFs are supposed to primarily produce income, I'd automatically remove GLPROP and SYGP from the list (these two I'd add if you specifically want diversification in the global section of your portfolio, but as an income earner main property ETF, the returns on these two aren't great compared to local property, even taking into account the average annual 4% Rand depreciation. ie. even with the 4% annual drop in the Rand taken into account, these indices consistently perform at roughly 3% lower than local property ETFs.
I personally don't like PTXSPY and STPROP because these are uncapped and are heavily weighted in favour of three companies - they each have 50% of the total ETF in just Growthpoint, Redefine and Nepi Rockcastle. That being said, PTXSPY was the best performer of the six for the past year in terms of yield, but was the worst performer in terms of growth, due to the higher weighting of the big three. STXPRO and PTXTEN are both capped at 10% in any one company, which is a major plus in my opinion.
The difference between STXPRO and PTXTEN is that PTXTEN is made up of the top 10 companies, each making up 10% of the ETF (equally weighted). On the other hand, STXPRO is made up of 15 companies at the moment, weighted by market capitalization, with a maximum of 10% in any one company.
The difference in performance in earnings yield from PTXTEN is roughly 2% higher than from STXPRO. For the past year, the distribution yield from PTXTEN was 8.57%, whereas from STXPRO, it was 6.45%. This extra 2% makes a huge difference, and more than offsets the higher TER.
The current income yields for the six you mentioned are as follows:
PTXSPY: 9.00%
PTXTEN: 8.57%
STPROP: 8.45%
STXPRO: 6.45%
GLPROP: 2.76%
SYGP: 1.99%
The growth from the four is pretty similar (graph below), so I'd say you should choose using yields and risk as the criteria for your choice. In respect of yields, PTXSPY, PTXTEN and STPROP are pretty similar, with PTXSPY taking a slight lead. However, PTXTEN is less risky, being capped at 10% in any one company, whereas in the other two, you're the the mercy of the big three.
For me, risk management is more important than the tiny extra percentage from PTXSPY, so my personal choice is PTXTEN. But in all fairness, all four of the local ETFs are pretty great and boils down to personal preference - performance vs appetite for risk.

Only new deposits from outside the account to inside the account contribute towards the limit.
Anything that happens within the account doesn't count towards the 33K limit. This means you can reinvest dividends, buy and sell ETFs as you wish within the account - change back and forth between Cash and ETFs etc, as long as you don't withdraw them from the account. None of these affect the limit.
So basically, it's only brand new deposits into the account from outside the account that contribute to the limit.

All the other banks breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently whites hold all the money in SA and after that I'm sure most won't rush to open an account.
Funny thing though: there is white outrage (and f*cking rightly so) on Twitter but I do not see blacks taking joy in it or slamming the whites for being "racist" etc.
Anyway, I just finished moving my life insurance to them not too long ago but in the past I've felt like moving my medical aid away from them. Won't do any knee jerk reaction but the case for exploring alternatives is much stronger than before where Discovery was seen as the defacto standard. Deep inside me I feel "filthy" knowing I'm helping to fund a company with racist policies - whether those policies come from a place of them trying to do something good or just a political cheapshot (bets on getting more black customers and get the whites anyway despite their outrage).

Personally I would by the Xbox One, I have a PS3 and will be the new PS5 if it ever gets released just because I own it since the PS one and love the remote.
Anyway the reason I say buy the Xbox over the switch is because it will end up in your living room as the home entertainment system with netflix and 4k streaming. Dad and his new toy (disguised as a gift for the boys)
The Nintendo switch is like a upgraded version of the PlayStation Vita, which was nice at the time, but you have mobile phones now packing more detail. If I was you, I would go to Cash Crusaders and buy a Xbox One plus 2 controllers plus a ton of games all for less than what the Switch would cost new.
I don't think I would've been able to tell the difference between new and used when I was 8 years old.
(Being a financial focused forum, I had to include the "don't buy new at inflated prices" comment.)

By way of an update market is now talking Block chain 3.0 some interesting startups in the space
Stackr (https://www.gostackr.com/)
What happens to your Crypto when you die ???
Stackr allows you to designate beneficiaries to receive your assets without going through a possibly lengthy and expensive probate process and estate taxes. In many jurisdictions, moving assets between crypto and traditional investments can trigger unnecessary taxable events. Stackr can be isolated from such events due to the trust structure, which means that it is only when you really need your money and remove it from the trust that you might pay any tax. Stackr is a secure long-term crypto and US$ savings solution that cuts out the middleman. Combining traditional finance with modern-day financial technology & expertise has enabled Stackr to pioneer this innovative, secure and flexible savings solution for the blockchain community.
(These are South Africans that run a very cool shop !)
Celsius Network (https://celsius.network/)
Celsius is banking on the blockchain. Its borrowing and lending platform will allow users to earn up to 5% interest on their crypto while taking loans at 9% interest, using their crypto as collateral. Celsius Network’s goal is to bring the next 100 million people into crypto, ultimately becoming the first killer app in the space. Risky or not, this is one to keep an eye on. This FinTech startup is primed to disrupt traditional banking.
Gameflip (https://gameflip.com/flp) is an online marketplace backed by Silicon Valley venture capital. It allows gamers to transact any type of digital goods, and currently has 3 million members. After successfully hitting its token-sale hard cap, the FLP utility token can now be used to transact digital goods within the Gameflip marketplace. In the coming months, pilot program partners and publishers will begin integrating the Gameflip SDK, which will enable the transactions of approved in-game goods via the Blockchain.
(Basically trading gaming stuff...wow)
ADBIT
The ADBIT token will be the core function of CIINCH Media Marketplace, the world’s first blockchain-powered media planning and buying platform for traditional media (print, TV, radio and out-of-home) assets. CIINCH and ADBIT were created to help automate the multiple layers of manual processes that currently plague the industry. Traditional media has failed to innovate and adapt to the current state of our age. Highly fragmented and operating on legacy software developed in the 1990's, ADBIT and CIINCH aim to bring these processes into the present.
(Here we are trading media space....trade everything !!! )

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You can order PINLESS airtime (direct recharge) or data through this API or you can order a PINNED airtime voucher which is sent to you in the form of a PIN number.
Location: 301 Building Three, Tygervalley Chambers,
Willie Van Schoor Drive, Bellville,
Western Cape
About us: Freepaid has been providing state-of-the-art Airtime solutions to innovative South African businesses, large and small, since 2007.
Links (optional): Our API https://freepaid.co.za/airtime-api.php

Weakening economic conditions, increased debt repayment burden, rising consumer inflation and stricter lending criteria have seen 100% bonds, especially to first-time buyers, become much harder to get, but it has also placed many potential buyers firmly between a rock and a hard place.
“Not only do banks require bigger deposits than before, it has also become more difficult to put money aside in today’s economic climate, as growing financial pressure is forcing consumers to tighten belts even further just to make ends meet,” says JP van der Bergh, founder of Propscan.
"However, a sizeable deposit has several significant benefits in addition to increasing your chance of bond approval - it also gives you a jumpstart on the financial process, makes your offer more appealing to sellers as it bumps up the chance of bond approval, naturally decreases your monthly bond repayments, and saves you a considerable amount in interest over the long term.”
Kay Geldenhuys from ooba, national mortgage originator, illustrates how a deposit can reduce the overall and monthly costs of buying property: “A home buyer who purchases a house for R1 million with no deposit at a 10.25% interest rate will pay approximately R9 816 per month over 20 years. At the end of the home loan term, the total amount repaid will be R2 355 944.
“On the other hand, with a R100 000 deposit, the monthly repayments will be approximately R8 835, and the total repayment will be around R2 120 350. Add the deposit to this and the total comes to R2 220 350 - making the total repayments some R135 594 cheaper than buying without a deposit.”
She says it also stands to reason that the smaller the risk for the bank, the more negotiable they will be on the interest rate charged.
“Right from the beginning of the home-buying process, it is important to ensure that you know what you can afford to buy and how much deposit you will need,” says Van der Bergh.
“Once you have established how much you need to save, the next step is to figure out how to do so as quickly as possible, and in order to do so, you must analyse your spending habits. On a spreadsheet, list all your fixed monthly expenses including existing debts you are currently servicing and make a note of all other regular expenses like the daily cappuccino at the café near work.
“Next, go through it with a fine-tooth comb to see where you can cut down on monthly expenditure and determine how much you can realistically afford to save, and then shop around for a high-interest savings or money market account in which to save your money.”
Sandy Geffen, Executive Director of Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty in South Africa, says saving a substantial amount of money may seem like a daunting task, but don’t be discouraged.
“At first glance, the cutbacks you are able to make may seem to be small amounts, but you will be surprised at how quickly they can add up to a sizeable sum, and you could own your first home sooner than you think,” says Geffen.
She offers the following creative tips for saving towards your deposit:
1. Stop smoking. This could add at least R1 000 a month to your deposit fund.
2. Instead of buying takeaways every day, rather spend the extra 10 minutes packing lunch in the morning as it will end up saving you more than pennies at the end of the day, and it’s far healthier.
3. Ask for an insurance re-evaluation because while your insurance premiums probably go up every year, the value of a lot of insured items actually goes down as they age.
4. Cut back on credit and try to pay off and close store cards, especially if you find temptation hard to resist. Remember that when you do eventually apply for a loan, the bank will ask for an income and expenditure statement to prove that you will have sufficient surplus income for the home loan instalment once all household and contractual debt expenses have been met.
5. Before you run out to buy a new seasonal wardrobe, spring clean your closet and unearth the older items of good quality that can be reinvented with accessories or by mixing and matching;
6. If you can’t remember what the inside of your gym looks like and can’t motivate yourself to go, cancel that gym contract and find ways to exercise for free. It might help you to start exercising more regularly, especially now that summer is here.
7. Consider scaling down on your car if a large portion of your monthly income is going towards paying off a car loan;
8. Always go grocery shopping with a list and stick to it - and never go on an empty stomach. Also try and stick to food stores and avoid the hypermarkets where you might be tempted to buy other things you don’t need.
Geldenhuys cautions that this savings mindset should not be abandoned once the goal has been met.
“Many people throw caution to the wind and shop around for a home that costs the maximum amount the bank has approved, however, given current economic conditions, buyers should rather consider buying for a little less,” says Geldenhuys.
“The extra cash can be used to pay off the bond more quickly or saved as a rainy-day fund so that they are prepared for the unforeseen expenses which arise when you own property.”
“It’s true that our parents had it much easier in that most were able to afford their first home long before the current average age of first-time buyers which has risen to 34, but what hasn’t changed is the investment value of owning a home,” says Van der Bergh.
“It is also one of the most exciting and rewarding purchases you will ever make, so even though it may take a little longer, it’s always worth the effort.”
Source: Property24

Day 7 of the trial played out this morning in Cape Town. The effectiveness of the security at the De Zalze estate still receiving a lot of fire from the defence.
It was an exceptionally long day in court so bear with me as I try and recap it for you as accurately as possible.
The day started with witness number 80 on the list. Marcia Rossouw, security manager at De Zalze.
She took over as manager in 2014 and made several improvements whilst working there, such as upgrading the electric fence. She says the additional cameras that were installed was not as a result of the murders.
At the time of the murders, there were optic cameras at all the gates and at other strategic points. There is an optic camera where the river enters the estate, there are also beams and the thermal cameras which have been discussed by Mr Afrika.
There are two security routes, one that happens within the estate and one that runs along the perimeter.
The report from that night shows that all the patrols happened on schedule.
Rossouw said that once the system is triggered someone would need to go out and resolve the issue for it to be deactivated.
The Van Breda home is in the middle of the estate with a 2-kilometre distance from where the river enters the estate to their home. The airfield gate is 1 kilometre away.
Rossouw says when she heard of the incident she requested that the fence is inspected thoroughly for any entry point, and the check the system for any activations and to look at the camera reports.
The four incidents that were reported was followed up on and was apparently a power drop.
There were no discrepancies in any of the 18 cards that were used to enter and exit at the gates (as sometimes homeowners would lend their cards to others)
Rossouw echoes all the previous security witnesses that there were no incidents or anything suspicious that night.
Advocate Botha then questioned Rossouw and said that there would need to be a light on for the cameras to pick up anyone on its footage. Rossouw retorted and said that there were lights with the cameras except for the Eskom gate camera.
Botha asked about the anti-dig by the fence and says that there are various areas that do not have it. Rossouw responded and said that it is still like that.
Judge Desai asked if it would be possible to dig a tunnel underneath. Rossouw said that there would have been evidence of this, no footprints, damage or wires being cut.
Advocate Botha said that he planned on showing the court how rocks can be used to cover up such an entry through the fence. (Whether he means under or literally through, I am not certain)
There is a report that points out various errors in security, especially with the cameras. Spotlights and a security guard were recommended for the fence around where the river enters the estate. Rossouw says that these were not in place in 2015, only an optic camera.
Botha then said that one point while he was visiting the estate there was an unmarked vehicle with a member of the press taking pictures of the home. They had gained entry under the pretence of going to the Klein Zalze restaurant. The bridge from Klein Zalze to the estate did not have access control.
Botha said that on the report there were more than four "alarm ons" and whether Rossouw had seen this. She said she had. At 1:08 there was an alarm activated. Rossouw says fences are activated when they get tested, these get logged as such. But Rossouw also said that she did not check personally that these were indeed fence tests.
The next day the alarms were said to have been a result of the power dip. There are two different alarms, one alerts the controllers and the other caused by the dip in power, and responders would not be sent out then.
Botha then referred to an old attempt at entry into the estate and Rossouw said that those people did not gain entry and that the security was very quick to respond.
The court is adjourned until tomorrow.

Hi. Platinum Wealth asked me to comment on unit trusts vs ETFs. The first thing is that unit trusts can be managed actively eg. Allan Gray, or passively, eg. Sygnia Top40 Index Fund or Sygnia Skeleton Balanced 70 Fund. All ETFs are passively managed, tracking particular market indices. I will limit my comparison to passive unit trusts vs ETFs.
In South Africa unit trusts are significantly more cost effective than ETFs - so a Top40 Index tracking unit trust is significantly cheaper than a Top40 Index tracking ETF. The reason is that to access a unit trusts you only have to pay the management fees and trading costs (all disclosed on fund fact sheets). That is it. If you do not use a financial advisor, that is all you pay. In fact, with Sygnia's index tracking unit trusts, if you want to invest via a retirement annuity or a tax free savings account, those charge nil administration fees.
In terms of ETFs you have to pay multiple layers of fees before you can actually access an ETF. The reason is that ETFs are both unit trusts and "shares" listed on the JSE. Some of these fees are:
- Stockbroking fees every time you buy or sell an ETF (you have to use a stockbroker)
- JSE trading costs relating to ETFs themselves
- Management fees within the ETFs
- Bid/offer spreads between buy prices and sell prices (This is the most disingenuous aspect of ETFs - the price of an ETF at a point in time is subject to supply and demand by investors, like any other share. So you might be paying more for the ETF than the value of the underlying "index" shares it holds, and when you sell you might be selling for less than the "index" shares are worth. In South Africa, where liquidity is poor, the market maker normally steps in. A market maker makes his money from the bid/offer spreads. So realistically 1% to 3% spreads are common).
- If you want to invest via debit order, you are normally sold an "investment plan" by a platform like etfSA or iTransact. That is another 0.70% pa fee plus R3.50 per month debit order fee.
- If you want a savings product, like a retirement annuity, that costs another 0.50% pa plus.
So once you have added all the costs of accessing ETFs you are paying more than you would for an actively managed unit trust. That is what the ETF providers are skirting around all the time. Since Sygnia always does things differently, we plan to launch ETFs later this year where we charge nil stockbroking and we guarantee a minimum bid/offer spread. Let's see if we can shake things up a bit. But frankly, even with best intentions, I don't think our ETFs will be as cheap as our unit trusts tracking the same market indices.
The final comment is that ETFs are asset class specific e.g. equities, bonds. Sygnia Skeleton Funds on the other hand mix asset classes together in sensible proportions for different risk profiles. So by holding one index tracking investment you get exposure to both domestic and International equities and bonds.
Hope this helps. If you have any questions, I will answer them.
Magda Wierzycka
CEO
Sygnia

Good to be back! Finally managed to log in again, was having trouble for ages.
When you rise fast, you drop fast too...who knows how low it will go, possibly even as low as $1000....all I know is that in time it will go back up again, and we will have new highs. My guess is that the next bear market will be when the price dumps down to the $20k mark.
The next halving is getting closer, and I would expect that the price will range for a while longer before starting to pickup again running up to the halving event.
Personally I just hold my main stash and dont bother trying to play the market much. The reason being that for me to cash in my main holdings on the way down, it would mean moving them to an exchange and selling, which opens up a can of worms. I expose myself in terms of how much bitcoin I have on that address and other addresses that have transacted with that address. Secondly, that can be seen as a taxable event, if I am 'cashing out', which I dont want to do right now, and thirdly, if I did cash out my main stash then I would now be sitting with a ton of cash on an exchange which I dont trust all that much. If I have to wait months to buy back in, I will be constantly worried that I have a lot of money on the exchange that is at risk.
I prefer to keep my funds locked down as bitcoin, secured on my hardware wallet offline, where nobody knows that its mine. I am a reckless, but patient, and i'll wait it out a few more years before worrying about changing it back into government money. By that time, maybe I wont need to...who knows.
I am still buying bitcoin....I do every month because its my long term savings plan. Now with the lower price, I just get a ton more than I was when it was closer to $20k. Win win in the long term.

I've just set my future TFIA payments for the year, and my R33000 per year split (R2750 p.m., although I'm hoping it will increase from March) will be as follows:
Local (37.5%)
STXIND: 12.5%
STXQUA: 12.5%
CTOP50: 12.5%
Offshore (62.5%)
STXEMG: 19.0%
ASHGEQ: 18.5%
GLPROP: 12.5%
SYG4IR: 12.5%
My rationale is as follows:
I went only 37.5% in local ETFs as my stocks portfolio is mainly in local shares, and over 25 years, I like the diversification of global markets.
STXIND: It excludes banks and mines, so is largely unaffected by the Rand value or political noise. It performs purely on the value of its companies. Also, it's been the top ETF averaged over 10 years, and I don't see any reason for it to be any different in the future.
STXQUA: A new ETF. Great companies, chosen for quality rather than market cap. High dividends as well as growth, so the upward trend should remain constant, ever in a bear market. Might underperform the T40 in a prolonged bull market run though, since it focuses more on dividends than growth, but should outperform the T40 in a fluctuating market. Still, so far, since inception, it has outperformed T40 on growth too, so I'm not complaining!
CTOP50: Companies chosen for market cap (long term stability) as the third prong of my local shares balance. Since I have STXIND, I did not want to duplicate my massive exposure in the top 5 like Naspers by having STX40 as well, so I went for a more equally weighted ETF here to balance out the INDI. I don't like the strictly equal weight ETFs like CSEW40 because they lose out on extended bull runs because companies in these ETFs are not allowed to exceed 2.5% even if the share sky-rockets by 1000%, but this one (CTOP50) has more flexibility than strict equal weight ETFS while minimizing any risk.
STXEMG: I think emerging markets will outperform developed markets in the next 10 years. Hence the highest allocation to this ETF.
ASHGEQ: ASHGEQ rather than S&P500, because there's too much instability in the US at the moment. I'm worried about Trump and the political situation with North Korea. ASHGEQ may slightly underperform the S&P500 (or it may do better), but at least my money's safe!
GLPROP: Had to have some property...
SYG4IR: My high-risk ETF. It may never take off, or it has the potential to sky-rocket. This is my 12.5% gamble that may lose me 12.5% or may make me very rich! :-)

Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) are two of the biggest shopping events of the year, and on November 24, the world will be ready to shop.
Please use this thread to post Black Friday deals, let's pick up some bargains together.
What stores are doing Black Friday 2017?
I will update this thread with the shops that are participating in Black Friday 2017. Please post shops as you discover them and I will add them to the list.
1. Game https://Game.co.za
2. Wootware https://Wootware.co.za
3. Checkers https://www.checkers.co.za/black-friday.html
4. Travelstart http://www.travelstart.co.za/lp/promotions/black-friday
5. Chain Reaction Cycles (Chain Reactions Cycles is running 4 weeks of Black Friday deals, with discounts on bicycles and clothing.)
6. Zando (Zando confirmed it will launch a Black Friday sale this year, offering discounts on clothing.)
7. Spree (Spree is giving away R100,000 in Black Friday Vouchers through OneDayOnly.)
8. Syntech (You can expect great deals on PC products, gadgets, and other goods from Syntech on Black Friday.)
9. Standard Bank (Standard Bank Business will offer South Africans something special on Black Friday.)
10. PriceCheck (PriceCheck will offer deals in 24 categories for 24 hours.)
11. MTN South Africa (MTN will hold “exclusive deals that will make lives even brighter this summer”.)
12. Loot (South Africans can look forward to great Black Friday deals from the shop.)
13. The Digital Experience (The Digital Experience will slash prices on a range of technology products and appliances.)
14. OneDayOnly (OneDayOnly will have a large offering of products at incredible discounts.)
15. eBucks (eBucks plans to give members great value by offering a 50% discount on its products.)
16. iStore (If you love Apple products, you do not want to miss its Black Friday deals.)
17. MultiChoice and DStv (MultiChoice will offer “fantastic” specials, and encourages people to keep an eye on its website on 23 November.)
18. Raru (Raru will offer Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, with unique, attractive offerings.)
19. Takealot (Takealot’s 2017 Blue Dot Sale will run across every department of the online store, offering all the best Black Friday deals in one place.)
20. Dion Wired (Dion Wired will offer great discounts on a wide range of tech and other products.)
21. Makro (Expect excellent deals on tech products, gadgets, and other goods from Makro.)
22. Vodacom
23. CapeRiverStone - boulders, stones and peach pips (https://www.caperiverstone.co.za/)
This post also serves as a reminder to please save up right now and at the end of October, because you might be able to pick up appliances you wanted to buy for a while at a great discount, appliances that were too expensive at the time.
We are all money conscious members, that is why we are a part of this great forum, so let's take a collective advantage and sniff out good deals together.

Day 25 was, I am sure, a very compelling day in court. Not so much by words but visually.
The 30-minute video Hitchcock took of the scene that greeted him that morning at 12 Goske Street was played in court.
Advocate Botha objected to the video being played by the State as he said evidence had been tampered with between the time the video was taken and the photographs were taken, as well as the gruesome nature of the video, showing close-ups of the dead bodies of Martin, Rudi and Teresa.
Judge Desai overruled the objection but he did clear the public gallery. The media was allowed to view the footage but were warned that they may not be graphic in their reporting.
Henri had moved to another bench so as not to view the footage of his previous home on that morning.
Hitchcock’s recording showed bloody footprints and blood spatters in the entrance hall. The lounge seemed to look normal, with everyday things standing and lying around. Magazines and a laptop on tables, a handbag and a monopoly board. It all seems so normal until you remember what had happened.
In the kitchen there were cigarettes and a lighter, a cordless phone and a cellphone were lying on the counter. Kitchen drawers were slightly open. Cigarette butts lay on the floor, seemingly burnt out on their own. A drop of blood was noted on the doorway leading to the pantry.
The back door stood open, and items on a washing line could be seen.
A perimeter inspection showed numerous first floor and second-floor windows open. Two blood droplets were shown on the boundary wall near the gate where the key was still in the keyhole.
Back inside, Hitchcock moves toward the tiled stairs. There is blood spatter at the foot of the stairs next to a pair of shoes. As he continues up the stairs blood spatter is seen everywhere but the top few steps were completely covered in blood.
At the top of the staircase, next to a bookshelf, Teresa lies on her stomach in a pool of blood, wearing a vest and underwear.
Moving on to Henri and Rudi’s room, Martin’s body is collapsed over the bed closest to the door. The wall above the headboard is covered with blood spatters, as is the gray duvet and pillow on the bed that he lies on.
At the end of the second bed, Rudi is seen on the floor with his feet towards the en-suite bathroom.
In the en-suite bathroom, Hitchcock has footage of the faeces in the toilet. Henri said in his plea explanation he had been busy passing his bowels when he heard the noises in the bedroom.
There is footage of all the valuables still in the house. Various laptops and cellphones were left as they are.
A variety of footprints were marked, but Botha pointed out that there were much more. Hitchcock said only those that were thought relevant were taken (38 pairs)
Shoe print expert Captain Danie van der Westhuizen is next on the stand.

[align=justify]We are expecting a half year earnings release from Billiton on the 21st of this month. 2016’s full year results were dismal; with the group reporting a first time attributable loss, cutting the dividend by 77%. The Samarco dam disaster was a blemish on the income statement, resulting in a $2.2bn after tax loss. Given the groups exposure to a range of commodities, in particular that of petroleum, iron ore and copper (collectively contributing over 60% of the groups revenue) with the subsequent weakness these products experienced up until a rebound in their prices through the second half of last year, we could see an improved set of half year results.
Despite the poor full year results for 2016 the share price still managed to climb over 68% from the eight year lows last seen in November of 2008. Currently the share price looks to be consolidating with the recent pullback coming on the back of lower volume. The oscillator denotes a move out of oversold territory and back into a neutral area, denoting a pick up in momentum. The price action is line with what technicians would consider a bullish flag formation with a bias to the upside after an extended upward trend. Aggressive buyers will be looking to get in closer to around the horizontal support at 22300c with a potential stop loss just below 21558c. A confirmation of the bullish move would be considered with a close of the share price above the diagonal resistance line at 23170c. The upside targets for the breakout would be considered at 24400c and 25500c in extension.[/align]